SHS Web of Conferences 98, 02006 (2021) https://doi.org/10.

1051/shsconf/20219802006
Education and City 2020

The current state of civic literacy of

schoolchildren: research materials of Moscow
education
Andrei Sorokin1*, Anastasiia Polovnikova1, Victor Kirillov2, Galina Kalabukhova1, and
Natalia Maslova1
1Moscow City University, Institute of Humanities, Department of Teaching Methods of History,
Social Studies and Law, Moscow, Russia
2Moscow City University, Institute of Humanities, Moscow, Russia

Abstract. Today, it is decisive to determine educational trends for the

long-term development of both states and societies. The 21st century
proposed fundamentally new approaches to setting educational goals and
achieving educational results. An important step towards addressing this
issue was the introduction of the “21st Century Skills” concept. One of its
elements is “Cultural and civic literacy”. Thus, the international
community has made an effort to conduct research in the field of
citizenship education. The study aims at forming a comprehensive
understanding of the content and assessing the formation of civic literacy
by various subjects (in this case, participants in the educational process in
the city of Moscow). The selection of research methods and the
development of research tools are based on the conceptual provisions in
the field of functional literacy. The research novelty is associated with the
adoption of innovative international methods by Moscow educational
organizations. The study results can be presented in the form of three
blocks: a block that determines the level of knowledge and understanding
of civic literacy; a block that describes the preconditions and current
formation of civic literacy in Moscow educational institutions; a block that
represents the self-assessment of civic literacy among participants in the
educational process. The study results prove that the respondents
demonstrate a fairly high level of proficiency in basic civic terms in the
field of knowledge and understanding. This fact correlates with their level
of self-esteem. According to the respondents, the necessary conditions for
mastering civic literacy are systematic citizenship education at school, the
formation of legal culture in families, and the availability of the Internet.
Keywords: functional literacy, teaching methods, educational research,
civic education.

1 Introduction
The current development of national education systems is largely determined by the “21st
Century Skills” concept. The structure of its components has been developing over a long

* Corresponding author: sorokinaa@mgpu.ru

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
SHS Web of Conferences 98, 02006 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20219802006
Education and City 2020

period. Many scholars note that reading and mathematical literacy was enough to start
working in the past, but “now these skills are just a starting point on the path to mastering
the 21st century skills” [1].
First of all, we should dwell on the structure of the 21 st century skills presented by the
international community in 2013. The main component of this concept is the need to form
certain personality traits and competencies of students (namely, critical thinking, creativity,
communication, and collaboration). This structure also presents a set of basic literacy skills
(fundamental knowledge) obligatory for a modern person [1], including “Cultural and civic
literacy”. In Russia, this component of the 21st century skills is often called “civic literacy”.
The above-mentioned structure is based on the years-long search for new educational
trends. In 1980, US teachers suggested to add the discipline “Critical Thinking” into
curricula and characterized it “as an important element of civic literacy” [2].
It would be a mistake to compare the significance of various literacy types. There are a
lot of scientific works on the importance and uniqueness of each type of literacy. Scholars
highlight that “civic engagement is crucial for building a healthy community… Many
studies prove that improved civic literacy and social empathy determined the higher level of
civic participation” [3]. Such studies include local, regional, national, and international
research of civic literacy formation.
The article presents results and materials of the study in the field of civic education that
had been conducted in Moscow for several years. Since the “21st Century Skills” concept
represents a certain innovation in education, the whole research is characterized by certain
novelty. Those scholars who study this issue draw attention to the fact that the ICCS 2016
results show that “generally, the European youth tends to be tolerant but their attitude
towards equal rights [...] varies both within European educational systems and among
them” [4].
This article hypothesizes that the formation of civic literacy in Moscow correlates with
the general trends identified by national and international studies. This study should
promote the issue under consideration.
The study should comprehensively examine the content and assessment of forming civic
literacy by participants in the educational process in the city of Moscow.
The article aims at fulfilling the following tasks:
• To determine the level of knowledge and understanding of civic literacy.
• To describe preconditions and methods for forming civic literacy.
• To reveal the self-assessment of civic literacy by different participants in the
educational process (students, teachers, and parents).

2 Methods
When selecting research methods and forming appropriate research tools, we referred to
conceptual provisions of conducting research in the field of functional literacy. Thus, G.S.
Kovaleva derived these conceptual provisions from different definitions of functional
literacy. She concluded, “We need to highlight the main elements [...] on whose basis it is
possible to develop tools for the formation and assessment of functional literacy. Such
elements are the person’s ability to act in modern society and solve various problems using
knowledge, skills, and abilities” [5]. This conclusion proceeds from the years-long research
conducted by the international community and the accumulated Russian experience [6, 7].
The research takes into account Russia’s participation in the international civic and
citizenship study [8]. When defining substantive aspects of the study, we also considered a
unique national experience in the field of citizenship education. Thus, the research
conducted in Moscow was based on five main points for assessing the level of literacy

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Education and City 2020

formation in the field of civic education: “civic knowledge, civic skills, understanding of
social processes, civic inclinations, skills of civic activity and civic behavior” [9-14].

3 Results
The study was conducted in educational institutions (schools and colleges) in 2017-2020.
Each stage of the study comprised about 500 participants, including students, teachers, and
parents.
A large number of tasks aimed at determining the level of knowledge and understanding
in the field of civic literacy. They were developed for analyzing real-life situations, which
corresponds to methods of international research. For example, there was a task to consider
a proposed situation and decide whether it violates the rules of a democratic state. The ratio
of the correct answers provided by the respondents is presented in Figure 1 [15].

120

100 96.1
91.7

80 75.8 76

60 53.9

40

20

0
Political Peaceful Distribution of Causing damage Election-day
wrangling on demonstrations political to the facilities campaigning at
political issues against the law campaign owned by a polling station
disapproved by materials by another political
this political mail organization
party

Correct answers (%)

Fig. 1. The respondents’ interpretation of a provided situation as offensive or non-offensive in a

democratic state.
Thus, the respondents from Moscow educational institutions demonstrated good results
when answering the above-mentioned questions.
A separate aspect of the study was associated with the understanding of the related
terms, their recognition, and the respondents’ self-assessment in relation to their knowledge
and understanding of certain terms that underlie civic literacy. The study results revealed
that the respondents put a high value on their knowledge of civic terms. Up to 80% of the
respondents noted that they knew the meaning of the terms contained in the task and could
explain them. More than 20% of the respondents stated that they understood most of the
terms. However, the term “ombudsman” caused certain difficulties, i.e. more than 65% of
the respondents answered, “I do not know what it is” (Fig. 2) [15].

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SHS Web of Conferences 98, 02006 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20219802006
Education and City 2020

90 81.1
74.9 70.4 73.7
80 65.4 60.7 66.9
70
60
50 40.3 43.6
36.1 32.8
40 24.2
30 21.2 16.8
20 9.8 7 6.1
10 1 2.6 3.8
0

democratic regime
ombudsman

sanctional law

pluralistic regime
sovereignty

protest movement

electoral law
civil parliament

civil society
tolerance

Know what it is and can explain (%) Know what it is (%)

Do not know what it is (%)

Fig. 2. The respondents’ self-assessment of their knowledge of terms in the field of civic literacy.
It is worth mentioning that we included several fictitious terms in our question pool, for
example, “sanction law”, “civil parliament”, and “pluralistic regime”. Many respondents
considered these terms to be real. We find it alarming that this group of respondents
included not only students and their parents but also teachers.
The selected questions aimed at identifying the conditions and existing practices for
forming civic literacy in Moscow educational institutions. Most respondents noted that “the
issues of civic literacy are discussed rarely or not discussed at all” [16].
In the course of the study, we determined and evaluated the most effective types of
work on the formation of civic literacy. They are used in Moscow educational institutions
and outside the walls of schools or colleges. The study results are shown in Figure 3. Thus,
most respondents responded that civic literacy should be formed in the classroom, family,
and by means of the Internet [15].

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SHS Web of Conferences 98, 02006 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20219802006
Education and City 2020

90 84.1
80 74.6
70.4 69.8
70 64.5 65.2
61.9 56.6 59.6
60 55.6
49.2 47.1 53.5 49.3
50 42.5 49.3 46 48.4 39.5 39.7
40 30.6
30
20
10
0

in the family

by mass media
during elective courses

through additional education

in the classroom

under the influence of other

by the Internet

people
Students (%) Teachers (%) Parents (%)

Fig. 3. The respondents’ answers to the question about types of work that have a significant impact on
the formation of civic literacy.
The final block of questions aimed at identifying the respondents’ self-assessment of
their level of civic literacy (Fig. 4). According to the study results, 25% of the respondents
assessed their level of civic literacy as high (8 or more points on a 10-point scale).
Moreover, this group of participants in the educational process comprised the following
respondents: every second was a teacher, every third was a parent, and every fifth was a
student [15].

Respondent groups Overall score

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Students Teachers Parents

Fig. 4. The respondents’ answers to the question about the self-assessment of their knowledge in the
field of civic literacy (on a 10-point scale).

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SHS Web of Conferences 98, 02006 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20219802006
Education and City 2020

4 Discussion
Currently, attempts are made to develop the “21st Century Skills” concept. We refer to a
universal competency and new literacy framework (Fig. 5) [17].

Applicable indifferent spheres (domain-general Limited to a certain

problem-solving) sphere

Thinking Self-interactional
competency competency

Basic subject
Interactional Universal knowledge
instrumental literacy (substantive literacy)
competency

Fig. 5. Universal competency and new literacy framework.

According to the logic of this research, civic literacy is embedded in the “Basic Subject
Knowledge” block along with natural science, financial, legal, environmental, and other
types of functional literacy.
Modern scholars analyzed a large number of pedagogical works concerned with
citizenship education. When analyzing articles posted in the electronic scientific library, we
typed in the search query “the formation of civic literacy” and received 108 results as of
April 2019, but most of those publications dated to 2016-2019 [18]. The data obtained
indicate the relevance of civic education for modern studies.
Both Russian and foreign scholars emphasize that it is necessary to start forming civic
literacy from early childhood. Civic literacy should be based on “intergenerational
collaboration in learning” [19]. Many scholars state that “civic literacy skills of students
remain an underdeveloped area of learning in the field of social sciences” [20].

5 Conclusion
Today, it is relevant to study the formation of civic literacy as a component of functional
literacy. On the one hand, such studies provide an extensive empirical basis for determining
the level of knowledge and understanding of civic literacy, describing conditions and
factors that influence the formation of civic literacy, as well as representing the self-
assessment of civic literacy among participants in the educational process. On the other
hand, the discussion of the results obtained throughout the study generates interest in this
issue in society and gives a new impetus to the development of citizenship education.

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Education and City 2020

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